Thread: CT Restoration Help

Ok, I just got me a 1970 Trail 70. Runs and drives fine, but I have since disassembled it to repaint it, and replace a few things, mainly just make it look nice for a trail rider, not a show bike. I'm working on taking everything off so I can repaint it, but I got down to the little round reflectors on the front forks, and I don't know how to get them off. Any Ideas? All Help is greatly appreciated, Jared

Twist em to the left

Those reflectors bond themselves to the rubber bases. Run a thin, single edge, blade between the backs of the reflectors and the rubber bases to break the bond. Once this has been done, they usually unscrew with ease.

It's worth the effort to remove the reflectors undamaged. Check out the replacement cost and you'll see what I mean

Just mask them off. If they are not damaged or broken why take the chance of wrecking them by trying to take them off.

Ok, I thought they should just unscrew, but they wouldn't turn without taking the gasket with them. Must be stuck together. Masking them off is out of the question. I want to take my ct-70 down to just the frame and front forks. Just masking them off is not the right way to do it.

Originally Posted by hondaman

Just mask them off. If they are not damaged or broken why take the chance of wrecking them by trying to take them off.

When it comes to a paint job, prep counts for 80-95%. With proper prep work, even a rattlecan paint job can look good. But skimp on the prep and the bike will look like crap regardless of the paint system used. Simply put, there's no way to properly repaint a CT70 without completely disassembly and media blasting. Leaving the reflectors in place would be a big mistake. If the reflectors are stuck, then it's 95% certain that the rubber bases have turned into a crunchy substance resembling very old beef jerky and look awful anyway. It's an easy job and the bases, unlike the relectors, are dirt cheap.

I thought he said he just wanted a trail bike not a showbike. If you want to blast the frame and get it perfect go for it.

I am not going to have mine blasted. I am going to wet sand the original paint out by hand and use it as, more or less, a primer. The original paint it all intact, just faded. I will then primer-seal it, and finally paint. Any body shop would rather use the good quality factory paint and somewhat of a base rather than strip it. But, racerx, I agree 100%. No better way to do it than the right way.

You will find that many areas of the frame cannot be sanded: inside the rear wheel arch, around the shock mounts, several places in the engine mount area, several places around the headlight ears, the steering tube lugs etc. There are also rust spots of which you might not be aware. I've yet to see an original pre `75 CT70 that didn't have a few spots bubbling up through the paint...even bikes from the southwest. Any rust left behind will cause the new paint to begin flaking-off in short order and any spots that arent sanded to at least 500 grit smoothness will show up through candy colors and look awful. You could use a rust stabilizing primer, such as Corolless or POR-15 and go with a non-candy color. 1975 "mean green" is a lot more forgiving the "candy emerald green".

Just wet-sanding primer is one helluva lot of work. Hand-sanding an entire bike thoroughly can test one's patience...and sanity It takes less time to earn the money to pay for having the parts media-blasted. But, to each his own

Good luck with your project, post some pix when it's done.

When you have one sand blasted, doesn't it take it down to bare metal? And when you have bare metal you must primer it b/c the paint won't stick to bare metal. And if you primer it you must sand the primer to get the paint to stick(hope that makes sense). Could you let me know how you do them? I am open to suggestions. Thank so much, Jared